An automatic sprinkler system is one of the most widely used devices for fire protection. These systems have sprinklers that are activated once the ambient temperature in an environment, such as a room or a building, exceeds a predetermined value. Once activated, the sprinklers distribute fire-extinguishing fluid, preferably water, in the room or building. A fire sprinkler system, depending on its specified configuration, is considered effective if it controls or suppresses a fire.
The sprinkler system can be provided with a water supply (e.g., a reservoir or a municipal water supply). Such supply may be separate from that used by a fire department. Regardless of the type of supply, the sprinkler system is provided with a main that enters the building to supply a riser. Connected at the riser are valves, meters, and, preferably, an alarm to sound when the system activates. Downstream of the riser, a usually horizontally disposed array of pipes extends throughout the fire compartment in the building. Other risers may feed distribution networks to systems in adjacent fire compartments. The sprinkler system can be provided in various configurations. In a wet-pipe system, used for example, in buildings having heated spaces for piping branch lines, all the system pipes contain a fire-fighting liquid, such as, water for immediate release through any sprinkler that is activated. In a dry-pipe system, used in for example, unheated areas, areas exposed to freezing, or areas where water leakage or unintended water discharge is normally undesirable or unacceptable such as, for example, a residential occupancy, the pipes, risers, and feed mains, branch lines and other distribution pipes of the fire protection system may contain a dry gas (air or nitrogen or mixtures thereof) under pressure when the system is in a stand-by or unactuated condition. A valve is used to separate the pipes that contain the water from the portions of the system that contain the dry gas. When heat from a fire activates a sprinkler, the gas escapes from the branch lines and the dry-pipe valve trips or actuates; water enters branch lines; and firefighting begins as the sprinkler distributes the water.
One type of fluid control valve used to separate the gas filled pipes and liquid filled pipes is a diaphragm-type or diaphragm style valve, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 8,616,234, entitled “Fluid Control Valve Systems and Methods,” or as shown in Tyco Fire Products published Data Sheet, TFP 1315 entitled, “Model DV-5 Deluge Valve, Diaphragm Style, 1.5 through 8 Inch (DN40 through DN 200) Deluge Systems—Dry Pilot Actuation.” (March 2004), Tyco Fire Products published Data Sheet, TFP 1310 entitled “Model DV-5 Deluge Valve, Diaphragm Style, 1.5 through 8 Inch (DN40 through DN 200) Deluge Systems—Wet Pilot Actuation.” (March 2004), Tyco Fire Products published Data Sheet, TFP 1320 entitled “Model DV-5 Deluge Valve, Diaphragm Style, 1.5 through 8 Inch (DN40 through DN 200) Deluge Systems—Electric Pilot Actuation.” (March 2004), each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. To control the flow of fluid between the inlet and the outlet and the respective wet and dry portions of the system, the control valve uses an internal diaphragm member having a sealed position and an open position to control the flow of fluid through the valve so as to respectively prevent and permit the flow of fluid from the wet portion of the system to the dry portion of the system. The position of the diaphragm is controlled by fluid pressure acting on the internal diaphragm member. The fluid pressure is controlled by various components arranged to respond to system conditions.
Applicant's co-pending International Application No. PCT/US14/63925 (the '925 application,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses an integrated fluid control valve and valve actuator assembly. The valve actuator of the '925 application provides for a valve actuator with a multi-trim configuration that is not found in the prior art. Specifically, the '925 application provides for a base four-port actuator configuration and optional five and six port configurations. The base four-port actuator has a compact configuration that includes ports for performing various functions such as, e.g., a first port to provide fluid communication with the control valve, a second port to interface with one of a number of different trim packages that can be used to automatically trip (or open) the fluid control valve, a third port to drain the actuator and a fourth port to provide pressurized fluid to both the valve actuator and the control valve. The optional five- and six-port actuator configurations include the base four-port configuration and a fifth port that can be connected to a manual release device for manually tripping the fluid control valve. An optional sixth port can be included to add a pressure gauge. The inventive valve actuator configuration of the '925 application allows for a compact control valve/valve actuator assembly because the various functions for operating a control valve can be incorporated into a single valve actuator that can be mounted directly on the control valve.
In the '925 application, however, the addition of the manual release device means that the compactness of the four-port design is compromised in order to add the optional fifth port for the manual release device. In addition, the second and third ports are disposed along the same radial position on the valve actuator housing, and thus must be disposed offset to each other along a lengthwise direction on the actuator housing with respect to a central axis of the actuator. This means that, even in the four-port configuration, the length of the valve actuator must take into account two ports arranged adjacent to each other in a lengthwise direction. Further, the valve actuator in the '925 application includes a biasing member that is disposed inside the actuator such that an end of the biasing member circumscribes the first and second valve seats, which in turn circumscribe the first port. Thus, the width of the valve actuator must be large enough to accommodate the diameter of the biasing member, the diameter of the first and second valve seat assembly and the diameter of the first port. Accordingly, while the actuator of the '925 provides for an inventive compact design, additional reduction in complexity and size are possible with respect to the number of ports, the port arrangements and the internal configuration of the valve actuator.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional, traditional, and proposed approaches will become apparent to one skilled in the art, through comparison of such approaches with embodiments of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present disclosure with reference to the drawings.